


The one that I love

by Captain_Holland



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Humor, Basically this fic is half sunshine half pitch black darkness, Brock Rumlow is an asshole, Depression, Had I already mentioned the angst in this fic, Hurt/Comfort, Language, M/M, Mentions of an attempted suicide, Merman!Bucky, Pretty much in that order, Protective Bucky, Sciencehusbands, Sealife center, Small!Steve, Stucky - Freeform, Violence, but there is also some fluff, fighting for these rights, graphic descriptions of wounds, lots of feels, merman/human relationship, rights for half humans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-25
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-02-14 16:20:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2198547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Holland/pseuds/Captain_Holland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU in which Steve works in the biggest sealife research center in the United States, owned by the highly acclaimed scientist and genius Tony Stark and his husband Bruce Banner. One ordinary summer day he comes across a heavily wounded merman on the shore close to his home. The discovery sets in motion a chain of events that changes Steve Rogers' life for good - and not necessarily always for the best. </p><p>Or: The fic where Tony and Bruce are actual Sciencehusbands and Natasha knits sweaters for orphaned baby pinguins while occasionally kicking some ass too. Oh, and Thor is the foreign electrician who pops by far more often than necessary to stalk everyone. In particular his little brother. Loki is said brother who works at the center as a receptionist and who seems to be silently plotting everyones deaths.<br/>And finally where small!adorable!Steve is the animal loving employee who used to take care of the animals until his life got turned upside down by this certain merman with long hair and endlessly sad brown eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language so it's very likely there are some mistakes in there. I do however have a Betareader to help me out: IntrepidAmi. 
> 
> Please enjoy!

If you would later ask Steve why he chose that particular day to expand his searches for rare seashells to the dangerously sharp rocks at the end of the beach, he would answer that he simply came upon the idea that the high rocks could very likely contain some shells that have been there for years, maybe even centuries. It was a very simple thought, but it was the one that saved the wounded creature lying between the rocks from dying a very slow and painful death. It’s lifeless body would've been dragged back into the sea when the water rose again, and the body would’ve been found a few hours later back on the shore by the screaming children of some European tourists.

Luckily, that all didn't happen. Instead, Steve scrambled on top of the nearest and lowest rock and stood there for a moment trying to catch his breath.

Wheezing and with shaking hands he tried to find his inhaler in his pockets. Finally fishing it out he took a deep, comforting breath. The lightheadedness disappeared and he could think straight again.

"Maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all..." Steve mumbled while wiping away a few droplets of sweat on his eyebrow. His blonde hair was stuck on his forehead, but he didn't bother brushing the strands aside.

It was a beautiful summer morning and at this moment he had this part of the beach all for himself. In just an hour, however, it would be crowded with tourists and other people so he had to hurry before most of the shells would be stamped into the sand by ignorant sweaty feet. That morning he had left his home at about 5.00am, leaving behind a note for Sam with whom he shared the expensive apartment. His roommate often said that Steve could just as easily live in a broom closet since he was only ever at home to sleep.

The rest of his time he spent either on the beach or at the sea life center where he looked after the animals that found themselves there because they were severely wounded or because several top scientists who were researching sea life behavior were closely observing them.

Work would not begin until seven, so Steve took his time with searching the rock for anything special. Unfortunately all he found was a grumpy little crab that wasn't very pleased with Steve lifting the stone he was sleeping under and with a yelp Steve dropped the rock it was hiding under when he felt a painful sting in his hand. The crab almost got squashed by his own shelter and quickly took his leave over the rock where Steve couldn't see him anymore.

"Goddammit!"

Steve clutched his hand with a miserable look on his face as he sat down on the edge of the rock to look at the damage. He was lucky that little thing hadn't cut his pinkie right off.

Steve let out a sigh and tried to use his t-shirt to stop the slow blood flow. Suddenly he jumped when he heard something that sounded like the screech of a seagull mingled with the whine of a dog. It was the strangest sound he had ever heard and there was something... off about it. He only couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. It seemed to come from somewhere underneath him, and when he looked down his mouth dropped.

There, a few meters underneath the spot he was sitting was what looked like a person. He or she lay face down on the sand and didn't seem to move. But that wasn't what shocked him the most when he looked down - maybe it was just the merciless morning sun and the recent lack of oxygen that made him see things that weren't there, but... No. No way. He was just seeing things, like the dreamer he was.

After gaping like an idiot for at least another minute, he could hear the strange chilling sound again and he jumped into action. He let himself slide gracefully down the rock to land on his feet next to the person in need, calm and professional.

Or. Well. That was what he had in mind. Instead he lost his balance and actually tumbled off the rock with flailing arms and fell face first into the sand to ironically mimic the position of the stranger. The air was knocked clear out of his lungs and he got his second asthma attack of the day. This one was far more severe and a lot scarier because he was unable to reach for his inhaler.

Wheezing, he tried to calm himself down by thinking that there was no way he could pass out now, not when there was clearly someone who needed his help more than anything right now. Was that blood he smelt? It was far too strong and nauseating to be from the cut to his hand, so the stranger was in a far worse condition than he had initially thought.

Steve could feel the lightheadedness slowly coming back when he finally managed to roll on his back and reach a shaking hand towards his inhaler. A wave of relief washed over him when he could finally take a full breath of clean air again. His face was bright red from the sun and the great effort it took him to rollover.

After a few more breaths Steve remembered why he was here in the first place and he pushed himself up on his elbows. Luckily he hadn't landed on a rock, but he still winced when a shot of pain came from his fragile ribs. He dropped his inhaler and crawled closer to his now silent companion. He hesitated before he slowly reached for the stranger's shoulder and immediately withdrew his hand with a silent yelp of surprise when he touched the skin. It didn't feel like human skin - it felt extremely rough, almost as though he could cut himself on it, and it didn't give when he pressed on it. Not even a millimeter.

The stranger - was it even human? Was it his imagination after all? It at least wasn't an ordinary human, all right - let out another weird, strangled noise and hunched up his shoulders. There was something off about the stance of his shoulders, but that thought was quickly cleared out when the stench of blood got stronger when the- the creature lifted it's upper body with a soft whine off the sticky sand and Steve could see its belly.

Steve gagged and almost threw up when he saw the deep, sticky wounds clotted with brown blood and the steady, red flow mingled with yellow pus that still poured out of them. But it was the discovery of hundreds of wriggling little maggots that made him want to turn his stomach inside out.

He hastily looked away and his eyes landed on the legs of the stranger. His eyes bulged out when he saw the scales that covered his whole lower body. Steve could clearly see the outline of two legs pressed together underneath those strange scales. The legs almost seemed to be wrapped into this cocoon of thick, leathery skin and scales, with on the end no fins but what looked like long, thin feet with webbing between the toes. The feet were spread in a V-shape, just like the fins of the mermaids in his old picture book.

Another piteous whine cut through the silence between the rocks and Steve quickly pushed his frantic thoughts away and scrambled to his feet. He ignored his own little pains for a minute and thought frantically about what he had to do now. His excitement felt inappropriate when this half human creature appeared to be dying next to him and he pulled out his mobile and quickly pressed the speed dial of the center. On the third ring he finally heard the familiar icy voice.

"Sea life Center Stark & Banner, you're speaking with-"

"Loki! Hi, this is Steve, could you please get Tony or Bruce on the phone? I got a - a heavily wounded creature down here at the beach. Please, it's an-"

"Emergency. Of course," said Loki in his usually bored drawl talking right over him. "I'll send Banner with a team. Stark is of no use, he would only clap like an idiot if he saw the beast... If it weren’t for his money he would've been kicked out a long time ago... Anyway, the pet rescuers are on their way. Keep your phone on so they can follow your signal. Stay put, do what you can to keep the poor beast alive, blah, blah, blah."

With that, Loki ended their conversation and Steve was left feeling partly anxious and partly annoyed. Shaking his head, he knelt down again and reached hesitantly for the head of the creature, which was now thrashing around in agony. When Steve rested a reassuring hand on its rough brown hair, it startled and snapped its head around. Before Steve could do anything, he saw his own still slightly bleeding hand disappear between sharp teeth. That was not so bad in it’s self until the creature bit down. Hard.

Steve had almost screamed his lungs out when Dr. Banner and his team finally arrived and freed him. Later, he wouldn't be able to say what the people in the narrow space between the rocks had said to him and each other nor what they did when they saw the creature that just had to be a merman. All he remembered was the pair of bright, brown eyes that looked straight back into his own blue ones. They looked human, but at the same time didn't even resemble human ones.

They looked straight back and showed nothing but utter fear.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun stood almost on its highest point in the sky when the van pulled up in the parking lot of the biggest and best Sea life Center on this side of the coast. Maybe even both coasts. This time, the van carried something very special. Something the world has thought of many times, but never actually seen before. At this point only six people knew of the existence of this extraordinary creature but soon the news would spread like wildfire through the huge building. If it weren’t for the strict contracts for secrecy, the whole world would've known about it before the sun went down.

Steve tore his eyes away from the mermaid - no, the mer _man_ \- in the middle of the van and glanced over at Bruce Banner, who still had an expression of total disbelief and wonder on his face. He couldn't really hear what Bruce was mumbling to himself, but he guessed he wouldn't understand it anyway.

Steve held his hurt hand gingerly, wincing when another shot of pain ran through it. He had thought that the cut the crab gave him was bad, but this wasn't funny anymore. He was lucky that the merman had only bitten down and hadn't shaken his head, or he could have lost his fingers or even the hand itself.

_Yeah, why hadn’t he? The merman was scared as hell and if he thought Steve was a threat he could've easily killed him even in his severely wounded state._

Two women opened the doors in the back of the van and Steve climbed out after them, watching how they first threw a bucket with seawater over the whole of the creature's body and then threw a blanket over him before they quickly rolled him inside. Steve hurried after them with a hand still clutched to the bloody rag holding his wounded hand together.

When he walked through the doors he was hit by the cool air conditioning and sighed in relief. Bruce was giving instructions to his team and gesturing wildly around when he finally noticed the small Steve standing in the middle of the hall.

"Oh, Steve! You better go see Natasha, I believe she is hanging out with Clint from security on the second floor. She can stitch you up. Probably. Sorry, I have to go. I mean this is _huge_. I- no sorry, I can call an ambulance if you-?"

"No, no, please don't bother. I'll go find Natasha. Just- just make sure he won’t die, okay?" Even though the merman had bitten him quite painfully, Steve was still worrying about him and hoping he would survive the day. And the one after that. Basically, that he would live and not die. Not like this. And yes, maybe Steve was also curious and wanted to know more about him. But no one could hold that against him, since he was the one that found him in a place _no one_ would normally go.

Bruce nodded and smiled at him briefly before he whirled around and disappeared through the door leading to the operation rooms. Steve looked at the closed door for a moment and sent a quiet prayer that the merman with the scared, sad eyes would live. After that he noticed that his hand was starting to throb with the pain and he hurried through the corridors leading to the huge entrance hall of the centre. Despite the air conditioning he was sweating again and had to control his breathing before he had the _third_ asthma attack of the day. And he hadn't even had lunch yet.

While he was walking towards the lift he could feel a pair of cool eyes staring at him. Turning, he saw Loki glaring back at him from behind his big desk that he kept so clean and strict that it seemed almost surreal to Steve. He waved lamely at him, but this only deepened the gaze of the longhaired Scandinavian. Finally, Loki looked away with a roll of his eyes and turned his attention back to his ultra modern computer. Steve hung his head and pressed the button to the second floor. What he didn't know was that that look was Loki's slightly concerned glare and not his “I'm-gonna-kill-you-all-in-your-sleep” glare. But then again, those two glares were almost indistinguishable.

The lift, when he reached it, was playing AC/DC. Probably picked out by Tony. Very _likely_ picked out by Tony. Steve was glad when the lift gave a cheerful ping! and he could finally escape the loud claustrophobic space. His t-shirt stuck uncomfortably to his back and he shivered when a fresh wave of cool air washed over him. He stumbled through the corridor and halted by the door saying: 'Security video room - prohibited for unauthorized personnel'. Steve ignored it and opened the door. This room was a far more pleasant temperature since Clint refused to work 'in a polar climate.' 

Clint glanced over his shoulder at him and behind him Steve could see the short red hair of the woman he was looking for. Steve opened his mouth to say that he needed a little help with his hand when black spots swam across his vision and he rapidly saw the ground coming towards him.

It was clearly a day of repetition.

 

When he came to again he saw the carefully blank face of Natasha hovering above him. Her hand brushed aside a few strands of his hair and he closed his eyes at the welcome cool skin on his hot forehead. He lay comfortably on what must be the couch.

"Can you hear me, Steve?"

"...Yes," he croaked and tried to push himself up again. He hated being weak in front of others, especially on this day when everything that could go wrong did.  
_And then there is that merman. Who is he? Where does he come from? Are there more like him? There must be, 'cause he's got to have parents somewhere, right?_

Steve hadn't realised he was drifting off again when Natasha firmly grabbed his shoulder and made him look her in the eyes.

"Steve, stay awake, okay? It looks like you have a minor concussion. Do feel nauseous? Does your head hurt?"

Clint appeared in Steve's vision holding a glass of water and with the help of Natasha he sat up and accepted the glass with a shaking hand, refusing to let them hold it for him when he took a sip. His wounded hand only stung a little now and was wrapped in a clean bandage.

"Steve?" Natasha prompted and a look of concern broke through her calm mask.

Steve blinked and tried to clear his head. It did hurt a little bit and he could feel waves of nausea when he moved too quickly. Gingerly, he lowered the glass and Clint took the seemingly heavy weight away from him.

"I'm fine. A little nauseous and a slight headache, but that isn't anything new."

Steve tried to wave their concerns away with a shaky smile, but he never really was a good actor. Natasha crossed her arms and looked at him from a moment with an 'I know what's going on' expression on her face. After a few seconds she threw her hands in the air and walked over to the door that was now swung wide open. She stopped in the doorway and turned around to look at him.

"Go and sleep for a few hours, okay? Clint, wake him every two hours until he feels better again, all right? I'm going down to see what all the fuss is about. I heard that Banner was operating on some huge animal downstairs."

Before Steve could say that it wasn't exactly an _animal_ they were trying to save downstairs she was already gone. Clint, who hadn't said a word yet, looked over at him and actually threw a _blanket_ over him.

"Sorry for the smell. It isn't piss, I swear. Uh, I don't really know what it is. Sleep tight."

Clint patted Steve's shoulder in a too cheerful way before he left him to go sit behind the cameras again without even a trace of shame on his face. Steve huffed silently and tried awkwardly to find a comfortable position to sleep in on the narrow couch. After a few minutes he drifted off to an uneasy sleep full of blood and piercing brown eyes staring right back at him.

 

Finally, after several hours of sleeping and waking Steve was allowed to leave Clint and his stupid stinking blanket behind and instead of taking the lift he ran down the stairwell and almost ran into a big bulk of muscle and hair.

"Ah! Steven Rogers! What brings you here?" came the deep, cheerful voice of Thor Odinson, the best electrician in town. Rumor went that in he had been struck twice by lightning but didn't have any permanent injuries afterwards. Basically, Tony loved him and had hired him as a kind of unofficial Head of Electricity, which meant that Thor was always somewhere roaming the corridors like a ghost. A very loud ghost.

"Err, I was going downstairs?"

"Why?"

"Err, to go feed the animals? I should've done that hours ago, but I-"

"Do not worry my friend, the animals have already been taken care of." Thor waved a reassuring hand that came dangerously close to hitting Steve in the face and he took a quick step backwards.

"I- I've got to go now. Nice talking to you!"

Steve awkwardly patted one of Thor's heavily muscled arms and quickly snuck past him down the stairs. Normally he wouldn't be so rude with Thor, but he didn't have the patience to extensively explain that he really had something important to do and had to go. Bless the big guy's heart, but he wasn't exactly the brightest bulb in the box. Steve grinned at the irony of that expression and pushed the heavy doors open to the entrance hall. He saw a few people in lab coats run hastily around, and judging by the muffled sounds of talking people behind the doors leading to the meeting room there had to be some kind of meeting right now.

Steve walked over to them but before he could open the door a hand landed on his shoulder and he whirled around with an embarrassing yelp. Before him stood the brightly smiling Tony Stark. Steve blinked up at him and noticed his lab coat was covered in blood. When Tony saw him eyeing the stains he waved it away and said:

"Stevie, Stevie, Stevie, you son of a bitch. I've been looking for these creatures since I was a snotty little kid in poop diapers and you just happen to find one in plain sight on the freakin' _beach!_ "

Steve opened his mouth to say something but Tony, like always, beat him to it.

"Yes, yes, he's fine. Well, not 'fine' fine, but fine enough considering the circumstances. He seems to be stable now, so fingers crossed, right?"

Tony punched him a little too hard on the shoulder, but he didn't notice Steve's wince.

"Wh- What about all those maggots? I mean, they were literally _pouring_ out of those-"

"Oh my God Steven, I cannot believe you just said that! Ugh..." Tony rolled his eyes dramatically and threw his hands in the air. From over his shoulder Steve could see Loki at his desk looking at the scientist like he was the biggest idiot he'd ever seen. Steve suddenly felt the urge the laugh and masked it as a weird cough.

"I mean, come on. Every idiot who has watched Gladiator knows that maggots are the good guys! Well, for the most part. Basically, if it weren't for those maggots that guy-fish would've been dead. They only eat the dead tissue in his body, which means that the infection wasn't as bad as it would've been without those little guys. We got him in before they started eating away on all the good tissue, so I have to say that I'm pretty pleased. Now, he is still under, and we're running a few scans on him to see how his body is pieced together. But soon he'll wake up again and we'll have to be ready. Can I trust you to prepare a pool filled with seawater for him? Preferably somewhere secluded and safe of course."

Steve widened his eyes at the request and quickly agreed he would do just that. Tony nodded at him and Steve could see in his eyes he was fighting the urge to pat Steve's head as if he were some boy who promised his dad he would behave at school. Instead, the genius scientist patted his sore shoulder again and disappeared the way he’d come.  
Steve hurried through another corridor towards the shelters and pools in which they held the animals of the sea-life center. He had just the right place in mind for the merman he felt overwhelmingly responsible for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your kudos, comments and bookmarks!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all the comments! *hugs everyone awkwardly* I have to react to a few of them:
> 
> @Lola_Miu: Thank you so much for the compliment! :D And I'm glad to hear that the second chapter was better to understand. I'm learning on the way, so I hope that every chapter will be slightly better than the one beore. *fingers crossed*
> 
> @Guest: Oops! As soon as I read your comment I added a extra warning in the tags. Thanks for mentioning it! About the maggots; I think we will find out somewhere along the story how long exactly Bucky had been laying on the beach and also what happened to him. And I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! :)

When Steve was born in the Rogers household, they weren't exactly rich. It was just him and his mom after his father finally died after years of alcohol abuse when Steve was just a little kid. After that, his mother was forced to work full time to be able to feed Steve and put him through school. It wasn't an easy life for the both of them, but they made it work.

Once, when he had to write an essay for school about his idol, he didn't hesitate for even one second to write about that single most wonderful person in his life. It was so good that his teacher read it aloud in class. Instead of applause, Steve received nothing but laughter and pointed fingers. He never really was the most popular kid in school and he mostly kept to himself on the playground with his sketchbook and lunch box. After the essay the bullying intensified to an almost unbearable degree. Boys called him names and waited for him after school to beat him up in an alley to 'teach the momma's boy a lesson.' Most girls left him alone, but there were some who would giggle and whisper behind his back about his thrift shop clothes and small posture. The fact that he had asthma and was sick all the time didn't really help much either.

Needless to say, school was like hell for him. There was one little flame in the darkness, Margaret Carter, or Peggy, as she preferred to be called. She was the new girl, but it was immediately clear that she was the toughest girl in the whole school. She was the one who would sit besides Steve during lunch breaks and who would stand up against his bullies even though most of them were a lot bigger than she was. Steve often told her that he could manage himself just fine, but then she never believed him. Nevertheless, he loved her very much.

With Peggy on his side, Steve had regained his confidence piece by piece and practically flew through high school. After he finally graduated he was full of plans for the future, but all of that came to an end when his mother died of pneumonia in the hospital. His heart was broken and when Peggy took off to enlist in the army he didn't know what to do with himself. The only thing he did know for sure was that he didn't want to end up like his dad and so he avoided all the bars with a grim determination. Slowly his mind sank away in a well of darkness and he wasn't sure if he would ever see the light again.

Steve knew his mother would've wanted him to go to college, but he simply wasn't sure if he had the energy for it with his fragile health and his depression. Actually, the whole of Brooklyn just held to many painful memories to remain there and thus he packed up his meager belongings and ran all the way towards the other coast with an ocean that seemed so much different than the one he knew from home. With only a little bit of money and a suitcase he had stepped into the bright Californian sun and started his new, unsure life in a place he didn't know a single thing about.

Then, by some miracle sent from God, he had stumbled over some rich guy's suitcase and had hurt his knees pretty bad. To his surprise, the guy had had a good laugh over his clumsy fall and had helped him back up again.

If you would ask Steve now how he managed to get a job out of knocking over a guy's suitcase at the airport he would say that it was all because the suitcase's owner was none other than the world famous Tony Stark, and that the guy had done stranger things than throwing jobs around to random people. And that apparently included finding Steve a roommate called Sam Wilson, who reminded him a bit of Peggy. Yes, Steve to this day can't believe the huge amount of luck he had had that day. 

It seemed surreal to him, but Steve promised himself that he would try his hardest to actually deserve the job Tony had given him. He had looked for a therapist who could help him with his depression and his life slowly began to steer back towards the sunlight.  
Now, he has worked for the Sea life center for about fourteen years and there was no place he would've rather been than here. After all the shitty jobs he has had in the past this was a welcome change. As often as he could he flew back to Brooklyn to visit his mother's grave, but apart from those trips he always stayed close to the center and the animals it sheltered. But from today the center had a special guest staying for, very likely, a long time and it most definitely wasn't an animal.

 

 

Panting, Steve tried to turn the rusty switch to fill the big, empty pool beside him with seawater. Finally he managed to yank it to the right and with a loud rumble the water began to pour from the pipes. Sweating again, Steve closed the door of the water control closet. He turned around and watched for a minute how the pool filled up far faster than he had initially thought it would. Satisfied, he walked around the pool and thought about what else would be necessary to keep a wounded merman safe from himself and from others. The pool was in a quiet corner of the center and only a select number of people were allowed in this area. Seclusion was for now ideal for the merman, since he would probably be very stressed and scared when he woke up from the anesthesia. Before he begun, Steve had sent a message to Tony to tell him which pool he was preparing and had noticed that there were a few what's-apps from Sam. He hadn't had the time to read them so he had put his phone away for the time being.

What did the creature eat? Fish? Something bigger? The merman had to be a meat eater of some sort, judging by the sharp teeth and the long canines.

A sudden shiver ran over his back when he thought about what could happen when the merman decided to fight back towards his captors. They all didn't know even the slightest thing about these creatures other then what they read in fairytales. How were they supposed to do this?

Steve didn't know how long he was standing there, circling questions and other thoughts around in his head when he suddenly saw the pool was almost full now. His heart jumped into his throat as he sprinted for the switch and pulled at it with all his strength. Thanks to the adrenaline coursing through his body he actually managed to do it in time.

As a precaution, he grabbed his inhaler and took a few breaths. He turned another switch slightly to warm the water so that it resembled the temperature of the ocean before he closed the metal door and locked it with one of the keys dangling from the iron ring in which they were bound together. Steve ran a hand through his hair and looked around the room. He started when he heard the harsh, creaky noise of the doors swinging open and he saw Bruce pushing a cart forward with Tony in tow. No one else was with them, which was unusual. It was protocol that with the moving of large animals there had to be at least four people in case something went wrong. But then again, Steve thought, this wasn't an animal and these weren't normal circumstances.

Steve walked a few uncertain steps towards them, but they had already lifted the blanket the still numb merman was laying on, and had put him carefully on the ground. The creature had another special warmth blanket wrapped around its body, which Bruce cautiously pried open so that the bandages on its torso were visible. Steve still wasn't used to the sight of the tail and he stood there gaping at it until he felt a hand land on his shoulder. It was Tony.

"You better move back before he wakes up. Who knows how he's going to react? It would be very unfortunate if you got bitten again... Hey! Your hand is bleeding again, Rogers! What did you do with it?"

Steve looked down at his bandaged hand and saw that it was indeed bleeding again. He frowned at it as he let himself get dragged out of the room by Tony with Bruce and his cart following. They went into a side room with a glass wall, so they could see into the room. The merman now began to stir a little and Steve looked on with awe.

"Everything should go smoothly. He has special bandages so that he can get them wet without it being a problem for his wounds. Also, he shouldn't be able to feel those bandages so he can't tear them off in a panic... But still," Tony went on, "we should be prepared for the worst."

Tony suddenly began clapping his hands excitedly and both Bruce and Steve tore their eyes away from the merman for a second to look at him. Steve with his eyebrows raised and Bruce with a look of faint fondness and a small smile. Steve shook his head slightly and looked back out of the window and gasped loudly.

The merman was now thrashing around on the floor as if he were having a seizure, and a loud growl echoed through the room and was easily heard behind the thin glass. He reminded Steve of a stag jumping around with his antlers raised at an opponent. Bruce almost stood pressed against the glass and was murmuring something to himself that Steve couldn't really hear, but he thought vaguely he could hear the words; 'please', 'calm down', 'careful!'...

After what seemed hours, the convulsions stopped and the merman seemed to calm down again. He pushed himself up on his strangely shaped arms and leaned steadily on them. He looked around, and Steve thought he could see the haziness in his dazed and slightly stressed eyes. The merman shook his head and blinked, immediately seeming more alert. Steve didn't know he had been holding his breath until he had to cough and reach for his inhaler, while Tony shushed at him and waved a hand that he had to shut up. Steve blinked away the tears that had formed in his eyes after his coughing session and saw that the creature had disappeared under water. He tried to stand on his tiptoes to see in the water, but he could only see a dark blur moving around.

"That... went better than we thought?" Bruce scratched behind his head and turned questioning eyes at Tony who looked back with a big grin on his face.

"It went better than better; it went GREAT! Pfew, I think I can pat myself on the shoulder now-"

"Oh, you can? I'm sorry, but who saved his life again?" Bruce raised his eyebrow and stared until Tony finally cracked and put his hands up in defeat.

"All right all right, jeez... Nobody has a sense of humor around here..." Tony rolled his eyes and suddenly noticed there was a third person in the room.

"Stevie! My man, you delivered good work today. If it weren't for you, we would have a dead merman floating around in our exhibition room with the other rare, unfortunately passed sea creatures, instead of a live one swimming around right here! I could even kiss you right now, but that doesn't seem like a very good idea with my husband in the same- OW!"

"I'm sorry Tony, but you deserved it." Bruce smiled innocently at his offended husband and turned to look a Steve, who had been looking on sheepishly.

"Steve, I also can't thank you enough for this discovery. Because of that, I want to give you the honor to take care for him and also to name him."  
Steve’s mouth fell open with silent delight when Tony burst his bubble for him.

"What? Are you insane? Look at him; how is he supposed to handle that big, dangerous guy out there?" Tony pointed at the room, where the merman had surfaced again and was half crawling half dragging his body across the floor to the wall. He seemed displeased to find out that the walls didn't give in and he growled so deep in his throat that Steve could almost feel it.

"Excuse me? Tony, I've handled far bigger creatures than him. Also, I've worked with several deadly animals in the past who could've all given me the final blow any time, but hey, they didn't. I know very well how to deal with anima- creatures like him, and you know that. I have more experience than any of the other animal caretakers here and besides-" Steve turned and pointed at the merman, who to Steve's shock was staring at him with a sad look on his face from the other side of the pool, "-he trusts me."

Silence fell in the room after that and they all looked at each other with various degrees of anger. Steve didn't like lying to his friends, but he was pissed off and wanted nothing more than to make sure the merman was as comfortable and content as possible in here. His sense of responsibility had only grown for the creature.

After a couple of awkward seconds Tony sighed and threw his hands in the air.

"Fine! Fine, just fine! You do what you want, but I won't be the one responsible when something happens to you. I care for you, don't get me wrong, but this is just incredibly stupid of you. But then again, you're not a nineteen year old anymore, so I guess all the healthy influence I had on you is gone now. So be it. Watch out that he won't finish the job and doesn't tear your hand out for real this time..."

"Tony!"

"All right! Of course I hope he won't do that, but- Argh, I'm out of here. The merman seems fine now. I'll turn the cameras in this room on so we can keep track of him... Have a very nice goddamn day!"  
Tony had already walked through the door when Steve, his hands balled into fists and with a flush of anger still on his cheeks, called out to him.

"His name is Bucky from now on, not 'merman'!" he flapped out, thinking about how the mer- how Bucky reminded him of a scared deer a few minutes ago. Somehow, he had changed 'buck' into 'Bucky' and his mind had decided that would be a good name.

"Bucky?"

Tony stuck his head around the door opening and looked at him with a look of utter bewilderment on his face.

"What the hell is a Bucky?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment/leave kuddos/whatever you like! Tips are always welcome. My grammar is I think the worst, but I'm working on it. :) 
> 
> In the next chapter there will be some Steve/Bucky interaction again!


	4. Chapter 4

When they finally left the small window with the viewing window in it, most people had already gone. It was a Friday, which meant that everyone was allowed to leave an hour earlier than normal. 

However, there were people like Tony and Bruce who literally lived in the center and who practically never left. They were the clear exception, though.

Steve stopped suddenly when he thought of a question he needed answered. Bruce almost ran into him, but righted himself before it was too late.

"What does he eat? Did you guys already give him something? He clearly hasn't eaten in a while."  
Tony's sour face brightened up a little at the prospect of talking about his findings.

"Judging by his teeth and how he is built, I'd say he's a hunter. A carnivore. So I guess he eats fish, but I'm not sure if he'll eat dead ones or that we have to use live ones to make him eat them. Go figure it out, Rogers. Bucky is partly your responsibility from now on. We're just the guys that are trying to piece him together. You have to make sure he survives in here. You know what happens when an animal gets too stressed out."

With that last message, Tony smiled sweetly at him before he moved on through the corridor. Bruce sighed and turned towards Steve with a wry smile.

"Don't mind him. He's still a bit pissed off, but you know how he is. Tony is just worried about you, that's all."

"Well, tell him I'm not made of glass. I know what I'm doing. Just because this is a - a species we've never encountered before doesn't mean he's so much different than the other animals. I'll be as careful as I always am. Well, maybe a little more careful than normal."

Steve waved sheepishly with his wounded hand. Bruce raised an amused eyebrow at him, but was serious when he spoke again.

"Don't give him a reason to bite you and he won't. That time he bit you he was delirious from the pain and was obviously scared. Try to befriend him; he's partly human after all. Who knows what goes on in his head? Maybe he's just as smart as us humans, but just raised primitively. Does that make sense?"

Steve blinked. To be honest, the thought that Bucky could be just as smart and aware as Steve himself had never even crossed his mind. As a habit, he had pictured the merman as more of an animal than a human. But what if he was totally wrong about that?

"Err- I guess. But-"

"Sorry, I have to go now. I'm sure you'll do just fine, Steve. You're the best we have. And if something goes wrong or anything; we'll probably be watching through the cameras all night, because I don't think either Tony or I will be able to sleep after all this happened. And besides, we'll need to check Bucky's wounds again in a few hours anyway."

Bruce gripped Steve's shoulder for a second before he followed the same corridor his husband had gone through. Steve sighed and turned another way. Only now did he realize how tired he actually was. Yes, he did have a few hours of sleep, but they weren't very pleasant. Steve shivered when he thought about Clint's funny smelling blanket and he quickened his pace. The sooner he did this, the better. He felt a bit nervous about coming close to those sharp teeth again, but he remembered Bruce's words. It was true; if the animal doesn't like you, it's over.

Steve didn't think Bucky would be happy to see the guy that startled him again, even though without him he would be dead now.

 

 

Steve winced as the metal door creaked loudly again and he quickly slipped into the room without opening it too much. He was rolling a similar cart as the one Tony and Bruce used inside with two large tanks. Besides them lay a long device that Steve hoped he wouldn't have to use. But you never know.

As soon as Steve had walked inside, his eyes had quickly surveyed the room and he had seen that the merman - Bucky, he told himself - was in the water again. He appeared to be swimming in circles through the huge pool and occasionally stopped to investigate something. Even though there was still a lot of space between them, Steve remained alert and didn't let his attention waver to anything outside the room.

As he thought about the best way to do this, he heard the splash of water parting and when he looked up he saw Bucky pull himself out of pool with his large, slightly crooked hands. Water droplets fell off of him as he scraped with his long nails over the slippery floor and Steve suddenly realized that he was being watched.

Steve had Bucky's curiosity far sooner than he had expected. He had thought he would first have to lure him out of the water, but Bucky had taken care of that. He could see the bandages again and he was relieved that they were still in their place without any blood showing through.

"Hello," sounded his voice harsh and awkward in the otherwise quiet room.

Apart from a slow blink he received no other physical sign that he had been understood or even heard.

"My name is Steve."

After thinking for a second he raised a hand and pointed to himself.

"Steve."

Another slow blink. Now, Bucky's attention began to waver and he looked away towards the pool, and Steve knew he had to handle this fast before the merman disappeared under water again. If that happened, he knew that the possibility was there he wouldn't come out again for the night. Not even with the prospect of food after days of starvation.

Before he realized what he was doing he clacked his tongue. Immediately, Bucky's head snapped towards him again. The merman's bright eyes looked at him sharply and he breathed out through his nose.

He can breathe both air and water, he thought amazed. That did make sense; he would've died within minutes on that beach. Maybe even seconds, considering the condition he had been in.

"You hungry? Of course you are, stupid question. You want a fish?"

Steve reached into the first tank and grabbed a dead salmon. With the fish in his hand, he slowly took a few steps towards Bucky. When he saw the merman tensing up he stopped moving and threw it. It landed before Bucky, who looked down at it. A few seconds went by when he first glanced up at Steve and then down at the fish again. Finally, Bucky's nails screeched over the ground as he pulled himself up to the fish and bowed his head towards it.

While this was all happening, Steve had crouched down so he was more on eyelevel with Bucky. The latter didn't seem to be bothered by this, but he was with the fish. After having sniffed it he suddenly lashed out and the fish flew over Steve's head to somewhere behind him.

Steve carefully stood up again and walked backwards towards where he had left the cart. To his surprise and fear, Bucky tried to follow him. The scratching of his nails was awful to listen to. It was obvious that the merman wasn't used to dragging himself over flat surfaces on which he couldn't get a good grip. It was an advantage for Steve, because it meant Bucky was a lot slower than himself and if he were to attack, Steve could easily outrun him.

His back hit the cool metal of the cart and he quickly went behind it so that there was a barrier between the two of them. When Steve finally got a good look at Bucky again, it didn't seem very necessary after all. There was only curiosity and no sign of hostility in his eyes. 

Steve brushed the sweat droplets away from his upper lip and he pulled the cart with him until he was standing next to the water. Bucky followed him with only his eyes this time and stood perfectly still. His eyebrows furrowed slightly and his head tilted. Steve couldn't help but smile a little.

"Okay... I can't blame you for not wanting to eat those stinking dead fish, but I hope for you that you will eat these, because otherwise you will have to wait a bit longer for your meal."

After saying this he pulled the second tank carefully out of the cart and slid it over the floor to the edge of the pool. With some effort he managed to turn the tank over and out of it streamed five live fishes along with the water in which they had been swimming. Steve turned around and saw that Bucky had followed the process with great interest. His nose sniffed the air and before Steve realized it the merman had already dragged himself to the pool before plunging in with a loud splash.

Steve jumped when the water sprayed over him, but couldn't help but look on in awe at how the merman sped through the water as if it were nothing. In no time the fish were devoured and Bucky climbed out of the pool with him. His nose quivered like a rabbit's and he looked at Steve with a question in his eyes.

"Sorry, those were the only ones I brought with me."

Slightly uncomfortable under the sharp gaze of the merman Steve showed him the empty tank and after that the other one with the dead fish in them. Predictably, those still weren't acceptable for His Highness and Bucky turned away from them with what Steve could've sworn was a look of disgust.

Grinning, Steve loaded the tanks on the cart again and tried to catch his breath afterwards. He was used to carrying heavy things, but he still got short of breath from time to time. It was a fate he had to accept, but luckily he had help. Steve could also feel the waves of fatigue returning, and he yawned so widely his jaw popped.

He was half surprised to see Bucky still lying a meter away from him instead of having returned to the water. The merman was staring at him, and it almost seemed like he was looking Steve in the eyes, but after looking more closely he saw that Bucky was more accurately just looking at Steve's head, seemingly unaware of where he should put his eyes. Whatever the merman was looking at, it made him feel uneasy. Those eyes were so - so human. And Bucky was partly human, but still. This creature came out of the sea. He was a member of a fabled species and for hundreds, maybe even thousands of year’s people had tried to find them out in the oceans, but none of them had succeeded. Until Steve came along, that is. How was it possible that after all these years it was him who somehow came across one without even trying?

Steve started when he heard a weird sound coming up, and he saw it was Bucky who was now looking at him with dismay and impatience clearly plastered on his strangely smooth face. When the merman realized that Steve wasn't hiding some fish up his sleeve, he let himself glide back into the water and swam his rounds again.

Staring after him, Steve made a promise in his head that he would find something bigger for Bucky to swim around in. For now, he left Bucky to his merman thoughts and pulled the cart with him out the door. After locking it safely behind him, he returned the fish to the cooler and cleaned the tanks. Finally he was done and was ready to go home.

Blinking furiously to stay awake, he walked through the hall with the now empty reception desk. Loki always stayed longer than most other employees, but even he had to rest from time to time.

Outside the air was heavy and warm, but in a far more pleasant way than it had been in daylight. 

Steve had only walked a few steps when car lights suddenly flashed on in the parking lot and he was blinking in surprise. He heard a car door slam and suddenly Sam, his roommate, was standing before him.

"There you are! I have been waiting for you for almost an hour now! No, even more than that, I was already standing here a few hours ago, but that creep at the desk didn't want to say where you were. He didn't even want to call you up or something, the asshole. So I left, figuring you would get a lift from somebody else, but you never came. Hell- didn’t you get my texts or something?"

"Err, no? Sorry, I turned it off this morning when I - when I found a wounded animal. We had to rush him to the center to save his live and-"

"Holy shit! What the hell did you do with your hand, man? Don't you tell me you got bitten again, Steve!" Sam made to grab for his hand but Steve pulled it away before he could get a hold of it.

"Don't touch it! And I didn't get bitten again; just- Well, I just got bitten, okay? No big deal."

Steve let out an irritated sigh and walked past his taller friend to the passenger seat and sat down. He felt extremely guilty for forgetting all about Sam and the messages he had sent him, but he was also angry he was treated like someone who couldn't take care of himself. Again. What would it take for people to finally realize he could manage himself just fine, frailty aside?

Sam sat down beside him and sighed with his head in one hand.

"Look man, I understand that there was an emergency and that you were too busy with other stuff. Don't be angry with me, okay?"

Steve closed his eyes and breathed in. His guilt only grew, but he was too tired to talk.

"Okay."

"Good. Now, care to tell me what happened that was so important you couldn't even check your phone?"

"Sam, you have no idea..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading my story so far! :) Please comment/give kuddos etc.!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the lovely comments again! I'm always happy to receive them, and they really encourage me to keep writing. Also thanks for all the kuddo's/bookmarks etc! :)

Thankfully, the ride back home to their shared apartment went smoothly, without the usual level of bickering. Actually, there wasn't much normal talking either. A sullen silence hung between them and neither Sam nor Steve wanted to give in and break it.

The mutual silence had been a result of Steve refusing to tell Sam what that creature that bit him exactly was and why he had to work far past his usual shift time on a Friday night. After explaining as patiently as he could that he had pledged a vow of secrecy when he first started working at the center and that Sam knew this very well, Steve had looked out of the window and that was that. He hated being such an asshole to his best friend, but it was necessary. Yes, he had a vow he had to keep, but if he would tell Sam about Bucky he just knew everyone in town would know about it within fifteen minutes. Steve loved Sam as if he was his brother, but God knows that the man couldn’t keep secrets. There was that time when he told Sam he had a crush on the handsome cashier in the supermarket close to their home and when Steve went to it the next day to do his groceries he had to endure the most awkward moment of his life when the cashier told him he wasn't into dudes, so yeah, sorry?

Steve had felt a bad case of second hand embarrassment for himself coming and had pressed his burning head further into the cool glass of the car door. Yep, it had been pretty clear he wouldn't be blabbing his head off about Bucky to Sam anytime soon.

Now, as he was lying in his bed and staring up at the ceiling, he sighed deeply and wondered for a second if this had all been just a weird, wonderful dream. When he would go to work tomorrow, would he find a wounded but curious merman named Bucky in pool 46 or would it be just as empty as it was yesterday? He simply didn't know. But to find out, he thought, he had to go see as soon as possible, and for that he had to fall asleep. The sooner the better.

And so he did, though his mind was plagued by dreams about pools filled with red water and Bucky staring at him with eyes full of fright and reproach.

 

 

After an awkward breakfast, Sam dropped Steve off at the center before going God knows where. What Sam did for a living, Steve didn't know. He had asked a few times, but Sam would either subtly change the subject or would just say with a mysterious smile that he couldn't talk about it. Steve only hoped that his friend wasn't involved in some criminal circle, but that seemed really unlikely for him. Sam wouldn't hurt a fly, he was sure about that. Right?

When he turned the corner he almost bumped into Natasha, who was holding a little penguin that was dressed in one of her colorful knitted jumpers. It made a little squeaky noise when it saw Steve and he involuntary smiled at it.

"Well, if it isn't the person I was just looking for. I went to see the merman this morning with Clint, but it wouldn't go near us, even though we had some fish for him."

Natasha said this all in her usual calm voice, but Steve couldn't help but notice that she was slightly disappointed she couldn't get a closer look at the only known merman in the world, even though so little people knew about Bucky. He was also relieved to hear that he didn't make the merman up in his mind after all and that he was actually still right here in the center.

"It is a 'he' and his name is Bucky," he explained quickly, excited to see Bucky again soon," and he didn't eat because he doesn't like dead fish. At all. Last night, I released a few live ones in the pool and you should've seen him go after them! I blinked and they were gone!"

Natasha raised an elegant eyebrow at his bland enthusiasm and smiled a little.

"Well, I'm glad that he's eating at least something. It would've been a shame to lose such a creature just because he refuses to eat anything... Huh, I still can't believe we have an actual merman in here. It seems so... unlikely, and yet I have seen the evidence."

Steve nodded. He felt the same way; he wasn't sure he would ever really accept that yes, mermaids and mermen are very real and they live right next to us, somewhere in the ocean where we can't find them.

"Anyway, I have to put Billy here back with the rest of the penguins. Take care, Steve. Don't let him get close to you again, no matter how nice he seems to be. Wild animals can bite when you least expect it, and he is not much different. You know that, right?"

Steve avoided Natasha's stern glance and mumbled that he understood very well and that he knew what he was doing. How many times did he have this conversation by now? Yes, Steve knew that he typically had a sort of paternal feeling with just about every person he came across, but he was getting tired of it. He was an adult and he had years of experience. Of course he knew what he was doing.

 

In a slightly bad mood he arrived at the door to Bucky's pool with a cart with Bucky's breakfast on it and saw that the door to the observation room next to it was open. Steve abandoned the cart at the open door and saw Tony and Bruce standing in the room quietly talking to each other. They were each holding a file full of information in a scientific language that Steve didn't understand. Bruce nudged his husband when he saw Steve standing in the doorway and Tony spun around and smiled at him. Actually smiled. He had to swallow back a sudden urge to laugh. Bruce had been right after all; Tony seemed to have forgotten they had an argument the day before and everything was all right again.

Or so he thought.

"Steven! How wonderful that you could make it in time. Now sit down, we got some things to tell you about our superstar in here."

Tony waved to the glass behind him and Steve saw that Bucky was swimming in circles again. That worried him a little. Not that the merman had better things to do, but going around in circles indicated that he was suffering from stress. And to be honest, Steve couldn't really blame him.  
Steve obeyed Tony's request and sat down in the single chair of the room and looked expectantly up at the men before him.

"Okay, now, we have a lot of questions we want answered. How far is he from home? Are there more like him and how many? What wounded him so badly he passed out and drifted ashore? And most importantly; does this maybe mean that Atlantis exist and that he is a descendant of-?"

"Tony," Bruce said wearily and then sighed. "Look, what we mean to say is that we have to do a lot of research to answer all of these questions. Somehow we have to get money for that, but we can't just say to the government; 'Hey guys, guess what, we found a merman and want to learn more about him, so please give us your money.'"

"Why not? I'm absolutely sure they would give about anything to find out more about Bucky."  
Steve ignored the eye roll of Tony at the mentioning of Bucky's name.

"You're forgetting that we cannot just spread the word around that we have a real merman in our center. Can you imagine the huge media attention we would be getting? And what do you think the government would do? Just let us keep him? No. It would be best for all of us to keep Bucky a secret. At least for now. We can't keep him hidden here forever."

Bruce had taken his glasses off while talking and was now looking at them with a distant look on his face. Tony turned away from the glass and leaned against it with his arms crossed. He was thinking about something too, and for a while Steve was glancing at the both of them awkwardly, waiting until he could get the undoubtedly very hungry Bucky his meal.

"Anyway... There are many questions, but we think we can begin answering a few of them today. We're planning to do more tests. For that, we need to sedate him. When we put him under to treat his wounds, we were very nervous about how high the dose had to be. As high as for any human, or would that be too much for him? In the end, Bucky had already begun to wake up far sooner than we expected so we had to hurry. Now, however, we think we have the right dose for the time we need. But the thing is we can't possibly get close enough to him to sedate him with a syringe, so we have to try something different. And we were wondering if- well..."

Steve raised his eyebrows.

"You... want me to do it? How?"

"Well," said Tony while pushing himself away from the window and fishing something out of his pocket, "the idea is that you take this" - he showed a small white cube the size of his thumb nail –  
"and get him to swallow it somehow. We- or better said, Bruce here, figured it would be best if you tried to do it instead of one of us. He knows you better than anyone here, so. Yeah. Maybe it will work, but I told Bruce that I-"

"Steve can do it, Tony," Bruce said in a calm voice while putting his glasses back on. "Bucky trusts him, you've seen that for yourself on the security footage."

Before Tony could retort, Steve suddenly remembered something:

"Wait- how did you guys change his bandages? You said you would do that last night again, right? Did you just do it without sedation, or-"

"Err. No. Actually, we didn't change his bandages last night. Like, at all. Precisely for the reason why we need you to sedate him now, because that guy in there doesn't like us much. We couldn't even get him to leave the pool! You would think he would be a little more grateful to us for saving his life, but nooooo..."

"Tony..."

"Yes, yes. Geez. But hey, you really have to make him eat it. He can chew on it if he wants, 'cause we can't expect him to swallow something nice and properly with those teeth. Good luck!"

Tony grabbed Steve's hand and dropped the weirdly shaped pill into it. Steve sighed and walked outside to the cart and thought for a second. It did seem like Bucky trusted him at least a little…but enough to make him eat this? He didn't even want to touch the perfectly fine dead fish yesterday, so why would he accept this?

Rubbing a hand over his face, Steve opened the door to the pool with his key and pushed the cart into the room. He rolled it close to the edge of the water and dropped the pill in his pocket for the time being. Looking into the pool, he saw a dark shape still circling the pool without slowing a beat. He glanced back over his shoulder to look at the window, where Tony and Bruce were standing; side by side, staring expectantly, anxiously back.

Steve suddenly got an idea and dropped to his knees next to the water. He reached for his mother's wedding ring that he always kept on a necklace underneath his t-shirt. That way she was always with him. Well, that was what he liked to think. Wherever she was right now, hopefully she wouldn't mind him doing this.

Pulling the necklace off, he leaned towards the pool edge and let his unwounded hand slip into the water. Behind him, he could here Tony or Bruce - or both - banging on the window, but Steve ignored them. He knew what he was doing, after all. Grabbing the ring, he ticked it two times against the first row of tiles inside the pool. He didn't dare to do it too hard, because he knew that for some creatures who lived in the water the noise would sound a lot louder for them than it would for himself. Why he decided this would be a good idea, he didn't know. It was just some kind of impulse.  
But it actually worked.

Steve jumped quickly back onto his feet when he saw the dark shape take a sharp turn and coming right at him at a high speed. He moved behind the cart just in time when Bucky practically catapulted himself out of the water before landing with a harsh splash on the cold floor. He didn't seem to have hurt himself despite the hard landing and was looking up at him with wide eyes. His nose quivered a bit like a rabbit's and before Steve could react the merman was suddenly right next to him.

Falling over his own feet, Steve landed painfully on his behind, but for now all is attention was on the merman still crawling towards him. Over Bucky's head he could see the door swinging open and Tony barging in.

"No! Go away, it's- it's all right! He isn't attacking me, he is just curious! Go!"

Frantically waving his hands at him, Tony hesitated for a few long moments, but even he could see there wasn't any immediate danger and that he was only making things worse. He quietly shut the door and a moment later he appeared behind the window again, now biting his nails while shaking his head repeatedly.

Steve returned his attention to Bucky, who had halted his advance, distracted, when Tony came in, but now he looked back at Steve again with a blank expression on his face. When he moved forward again, Steve quickly raised his foot and pressed against the merman's chest. Again, he saw to his surprise that Bucky’s thick skin didn't give an inch, though he did stop moving.

Closing his eyes, Steve waited until his heartbeat returned to normal before he rose to his feet. Bucky followed all of his movements with his dark eyes and made a small sound in the back of his throat. His head nudged suddenly at Steve's pocket, and it slowly dawned on him. Bewildered, he pulled the pill out of his pocket and Bucky smacked his strange tail once on the ground while his eyes never left the pill.

... What? Bucky had smelled the pill and wanted it? Why? What the hell did Tony and Bruce put into it?

Looking over at the window, he saw the two scientists gaping back at him. Apparently they also had no clue what was going on. Was this really so easy?

Slowly, Steve reached his hand with the pill forward towards Bucky who, after staring for a second, opened his mouth to reveal his sharp teeth. Now he could get a good look at them, he saw that they actually looked a lot like human teeth, but only shaped slightly differently. Before he lost his courage Steve dropped the pill onto Bucky's tongue and yanked his hand away after that. His bandaged hand still clutched his mother's ring as he watched Bucky chew on the pill a little bit before swallowing. 

After that, they were staring at each other for what seemed like hours. Steve couldn't look away from the strange eyes that looked back at him with what seemed to be so much intelligence, but at the same time also wonderment and naivety. Finally, Bucky's eyes drooped a little and the merman made a startled noise.

"Bucky- Hey Bucky, look at me, it’s okay."

Not thinking straight, Steve dropped to his knees again and laid a careful hand on the merman's shoulder. Bucky tensed under his touch but he didn't pull away. He was swaying slightly as his arms lost their strength and he pressed himself flat against the ground. Steve vaguely heard a door opening as he tried to comfort the merman by stroking his rough hair. The strands felt almost like the mane of a horse. Bucky whined for the last time in his distress and Steve's heart clenched when he remembered Bucky had made a similar sound when he found him on the beach, alone and in pain.

He almost didn't register when Bucky was carried onto a cart and that Bruce lay a warm hand on his shoulder. The only thing he was thinking about was the pool filled with red water that was in his nightmare. But it wasn't just water, Steve realized now. Suddenly the memory of Bucky staring at him with scared, accusing eyes surfaced and he closed his eyes.

He felt like throwing up.


	6. Chapter 6

"Here, I've brought some coffee for you."

"Hmm? Oh, thanks Natasha."

Steve tried to smile a little as he accepted the steaming mug with: 'I luv penguins!' written on it. Natasha and Clint each took a seat beside him and they sat staring into their mugs for a while. The canteen was largely deserted because it wasn't lunchtime yet so they thankfully weren't bothered by anyone. When Steve had finally had left the pool he still felt a bit nauseous. He felt extremely bad for tricking Bucky like this, even though he thankfully didn't have to force the merman to take the pill. Quite the opposite really: whatever had been in the pill had such a strong effect on Bucky that he would do just about anything to get to it, even though he wasn't really aggressive towards Steve. And when he finally gave him that pill... No. Just seeing Bucky so distressed again had triggered something inside of him. Steve didn't want to see him suffer ever again. It had felt so cruel to drug him like that. Treating him like an animal when he wasn't, no matter how much he acted like one. There was a human soul in him, Steve knew it.

"How is your head?" Natasha asked in a casual tone and sipped from her mug. Steve glanced at her from the corner of his eye, but she wasn't looking at him.

"It's fine. It doesn't hurt anymore. Though I should thank you for that, I suppose."

Natasha smiled at him and patted his cold hand in an almost lovingly way. If it were anyone else than Natasha Steve would've thought he was being mothered, but he knew better. Natasha used these almost mocking gestures to express her true emotions. This hand patting simply meant that she cared about him and that what she did really was nothing special. Steve smiled a little more broadly at her.

"When you two lovebirds are done staring at each other, I'd like to know what the hell is going on here. First Steve comes into the office looking like shit and passes out on my couch and then when I go outside the whole center is transformed into some kind of circus. People running and yelling around like maniacs and I still got no clue what is going on. I may be 'just' a security guy, but after all the years of good service I expect at least a little bit of involvement here. So, Steve, since Natasha refuses to tell me anything; what the hell is going on and why are we sulking around here as if somebody just slipped into the shark tank and died?"

After this speech Clint took a deep breath and stared at Steve expectantly. The latter raised his eyebrows and hesitated. If Natasha wasn't allowed to tell him, than Steve certainly wasn't allowed to. But then again, why can everyone at the center know except for the security officers? That just didn't make any sense.

"Hum... I'm not sure if I-"

"Oh, god damn it! Never mind, I'll just get Loki to hack into Stark’s private security cameras and I'll finally know what's going on. You guys heard nothing!"

Jumping up, Clint grinned at them triumphantly and strode away, nearly knocking poor Phil Coulson over who was coming to join them.

"Wow, sorry Coulson!"

With those last words Clint disappeared through the doors. Natasha sighed and took another sip from her drink. Steve followed her example.

"Hello Natasha. Steve."

"Phil," they greeted him simultaneously.

Phil adjusted his suit jacket and sat down across from them without asking first if that was all right. But then again, it wasn't like they could refuse him anything when he smiled so cheerily at them like that. Just like he actually always did, now Steve thought about it.

"So, you guys have already heard the news I suppose?" said Phil while glancing between them expectantly.

Natasha hummed from behind her mug and pointed in the general direction of Steve.

"He was the one who found him, so yeah."

Phil looked at the both of them with a confused look on his face.

"Found who? What are you talking about?"

Steve and Natasha looked at each other, equally confused, though you could barely notice it in Natasha's expression. It was really impressive how many facial expressions she could make by just moving her eyebrows in the slightest way. An outsider would never notice it and would just think she was only capable of glaring.

"What are you talking about?" Natasha finally said carefully.

"The merman, of course! I can't believe they didn't tell you guys anything. I know that it is quite hard to believe, but-"

"Whoa, wait! We know about that! That was what we were talking about, too!"

Steve and Phil eyed each other with increasing confusion and a weird silence fell between the trio. Something strange just happened, but Steve couldn't really put his finger on it. 

"Oh- Err, okay?" Phil said awkwardly while running a hand over his balding head. "Well, that was actually- Well, I just wondered if you guys already heard about it. And hey, I heard that somebody has called it 'Bucky'! What a funny name, huh?"

Phil said the last sentence as a final attempt at breaking the weird atmosphere between them, but instead it resulted into Steve flushing and looking down into his now almost cold coffee and Natasha closing her eyes while almost inaudibly sighing. Phil luckily got the message after a few dragging seconds and pushed his chair with a lot of noise over the floor as he straightened himself awkwardly. Steve kept looking in his cup as if he could see the big answers of the universe there.

"Well, I've got to go back to work, I guess? Bye!"

Natasha followed Phil's quickly retreating form with narrow eyes and then raised her mug elegantly.

"Bless our dear Phil with his clumsy attempts at conversation. May he never change”.

Steve muttered an ' amen ' at that and clunked his mug against Natasha's. He was about to stand up too and empty his mug in the sink when hell broke loose.

The canteen door flew open with a loud bang and all of the people sitting in the canteen room jumped at the sound. Steve looked up quickly and saw Tony looking around in despair. When their eyes locked Tony almost sobbed with relief and yanked Steve out of his chair with so much force he would've landed face first on the ground if it weren't for the death grip Tony had him in.

"Steve- Steve- Quick! Quick! You have- you have to come calm him down! He- Bucky- Blood everywhere- something wrong with the dose after all, I don't know-"

Steve paled further after each word Tony said, but finally managed to respond with a voice much calmer than he was himself. After all, this kind of situation wasn't exactly new to him. Accidents like this were not regular, but they happened.

"Take me to him."

 

 

Several scenarios passed through Steve's head as he ran alongside Tony towards the surgery area. Bucky biting someone in his panic when he didn't realize what was going on. Bucky gone rabid on the people working on him. All of the scenarios had Bucky as the bad guy somehow, but when Steve opened the door of the surgery room and looked around he felt ashamed.

It was a mess. Tony didn't lie about that. 

But the blood coating the shaking Bruce and a few of his assistants wasn't theirs.  
It was Bucky's.

Something that sounded dangerously close to a sob escaped from Steve's throat as he slowly walked around the big operation table and saw the broken bundle on the ground that was Bucky. Blood surrounded him in a puddle and he was half hidden underneath a table. A pair of shining eyes met his from the dark and Steve thought he could hear a small sound of recognition from the creature.

Steve knelt quietly besides the table and made sure that he left a wide space open for Bucky to escape if he wanted to - The last thing Steve wanted was for Bucky to feel trapped. The merman would only hurt himself more.

Slowly he reached for a clean cloth and yanked it off a table. A few metal instruments clattered on the floor and Bucky made himself - if possible - smaller. Steve made a reassuring noise and showed the merman the cloth before he reached forward and pressed it on the now steadily bleeding again wounds on Bucky's stomach. The latter whined that hair raising whine again and Steve's heart clenched. It was only then that he saw the bruises around the merman's wrists, where he had been tied to the operation table unsuccessfully.

Why had this happened? Why? Why did Bruce and especially Tony keep making these mistakes? Weren't they supposed to be the best in the country? Maybe even the best in the world? Was Bucky really that much different from humans and animals alike that they couldn't even estimate how much Bucky needed to keep him under?

"This has to stop," said Steve in that strangely calm voice again. He reminded himself of Natasha, who almost never showed in her voice what she felt or thought. On the inside he felt nauseous again but primarily he felt this buzzing anger surface. It boiled his blood so much that he almost didn't notice how his hands were now soaking with Bucky's blood. When he did, however, he realized that the merman needed help. Right now.

"Help me get him on the table! His wounds need to be cleaned and stitched again. And- and he had lost a lot of blood, so- HELP ME GODDAMNIT!"

Finally, finally people began to move and Steve felt his anger turn into adrenaline. Grabbing Bucky's rough, strangely shaped hand Steve tried to calm him down as Bruce, Tony and one other person reluctantly approached.

"Bucky? Hey, Bucky, it's going to be all right, I promise. You have to trust me. We're going to lift you onto the table again and we're going to stop the pain, okay? No more tying up-" He touched the bruises to emphasize his point, "- and I'm going to be here, okay?"

Of course, the merman couldn't possibly understand what he was saying. Nonetheless, Steve's voice seemed to have a soothing effect on Bucky and after a while he crawled from under the table without needing too much persuasion. After nudging his shoulder, the merman slowly rolled onto his back and didn't even respond when they lifted him onto the table. Steve quickly saw why; Bucky had passed out from the blood loss.

 

 

It was blissfully quiet in the poolroom. Steve was sitting with his back against the wall and watched lazily how one of the filters sucked in water while the other let in clean water in return. Bucky was lying beside him freshly bandaged underneath a spray that kept him hydrated. The merman could survive on air, but he clearly preferred water. He was sleeping now and seemed to have calmed down from his panic attack in the surgery room. Steve himself felt a lot better now when they were left alone, without anyone watching them from the window too.

He watched as Bucky stretched his crooked hands and spread his fingers with the thin fleece between each of them. They were undoubtedly perfectly shaped for swimming quickly in the ocean. His rough hair only fell to his upper back, which probably meant that it didn't grow very fast in the deep depths of the ocean. Now that Steve was thinking about it, the merman's torso pretty much looked like a human's, but then there was the tail. It wasn't exactly what you would imagine when you think of a mermaid tail. Or a merman tail, for that matter. It wasn't brightly colored, but... grayish. Maybe also a little brown.

Steve started when Bucky suddenly scraped his nails against the floor and he cringed. Maybe it would be a good idea to cut them a little. Especially since he has to crawl around the floor a lot while he is here. But not too much, since Steve had seen how Bucky caught fish with his hands before he killed them with a single bite.

He unconsciously grabbed his injured hand and looked at it. It looked a lot better than yesterday and wasn't blue anymore. Before long, the wounds would be healed. Only Steve wasn't so sure about Bucky's. And he wasn't just talking about the merman's physical wounds.

As Steve was looking down at the finally at peace merman, he realized that from the moment they brought him in he had been treated like an animal. And even though he acted like one didn't mean he was one. From what Steve had seen from Bucky he knew that the merman had mannerisms that couldn't be anything else than human. Hell, he looked human with the exception of the tail and a few differences like the shape of his arms. Human. Only he had lived in the ocean for probably all of his life without any human interaction. But it was all there, Steve just knew it. He could see it every time he looked at Bucky. All he needed was a little guidance.

"I'm going to help you," Steve quietly said to Bucky's sleeping form. "I'm going to show them that you're not an animal. That you're just as human as any of us and that you don't deserve to be treated like this. I won't let it happen again, not like- not like that. You won't be hurt again under my watch, Bucky. I promise."

To emphasize his words, Steve laid a warm hand on the merman's shoulder. Bucky made a little sound at the contact, but didn't shrink away. Maybe he knew it was him and not just some other person. Steve liked to think that.

If only he could keep that promise.


	7. Chapter 7

The next few days went by without any more accidents with Bucky. Tony and Bruce had locked themselves up with their fellow scientists in a room; discussing the information they had gained from examining him, and didn’t dare to disturb Bucky again anytime soon. They were both embarrassed about the incident with the sedation and had to lick their wounds, Steve supposed.

The merman himself was… stable. His wounds appeared to be slowly healing, but the merman still suffered from huge amounts of stress. He often just kept swimming from one side of the pool to the other side at an even pace, and Steve’s heart lurched whenever he caught him doing that. From experience he knew that this kind of repetitive behavior among animals – and merpeople too, at that – was not a good sign. 

But as much as Steve regretted it, there wasn’t much he could do about it.  
The one thing he _could_ do, though, was keep Bucky distracted.

“Bucky! How are you doing? You slept well last night?”

Steve winced at his awfully cheerful voice as he walked into the poolroom, but it worked on Bucky. The merman slowly peered over the edge of the pool and sniffed the air. Humming, he pulled himself out of the pool and waited expectantly. 

Steve cleared his throat; “So, how about we play a little game, you and me? No pointy things, just- this!”

Smiling, Steve moved his arms from behind his back and revealed a bright red ball. His hand had healed so much that it didn’t have to be bandaged anymore, thankfully. It was always tricky to work with sea animals when something as vital as your hand had to stay dry. 

Bucky shrunk a little back upon seeing the sudden bright color of the ball, but he quickly recovered. He appeared to be much more curious than frightened and actually slid a bit closer to Steve, who was relieved to see the positive response.

“Okay. So. You’re probably much too smart to play with a ball, but I’m just going to throw this in the pool and- well. We’ll just see what you’re going to do, right?” he finished lamely and took a careful step forward to let Bucky smell the ball first. The merman sneezed and shook his head, but otherwise he did not seem put off by the object. Dark, very human eyes observed closely when Steve stretched out his arm and threw the ball into the pool. 

Bucky turned his head, which caused his thick hair to fall over his shoulder. After a few seconds Bucky looked back at Steve again and made absolutely no movement towards the ball. Instead, he simply bent his arms and dropped down on the floor with his head resting neatly on his folded arms. His eyes were still trained on Steve.

Perplexed, Steve gazed down upon the relaxed form of the merman and didn’t know what to do for a second. Many scenarios had played inside his head when he considered bringing the ball with him. 

Bucky being scared. Bucky reacting violently. Bucky immediately understanding what was asked of him. 

But Bucky not showing any interest _at all_ at the strange object floating in his territory? That one he hadn’t even thought about for a second. 

Maybe… Steve had just expected a miracle. That everything _he_ did, the merman would immediately understand, because of the bond they seemed to have. But maybe all Steve had to do was step on the brakes for a second and take things as they came. He shouldn’t just be taking things for granted. Bucky wasn’t an animal. He wasn’t like _anything_ he had ever encountered before and it would only be fitting if Steve’s plans didn’t always work, as he wanted them too. Bucky was this unknown force and there was only a very small chance that Steve would ever understand even a little bit of the mysteries of the merman.

_So hold your horses, Steven Rogers. Calm down and be patient. Don’t forget who you are._

Steve nodded once to himself and looked down at Bucky again. A pair of brown eyes was still keeping an eye on him. That only made Steve more nervous for what he was about to do. 

Slowly Steve walked to the edge of the pool, a few meters separating him from Bucky. The merman lifted his head to still be able to see him. 

_Bad idea, Steve. Bad idea. Like that time you thought that the sharks knew you so well now that it would be no problem if you got in the tank with them for a moment to check out Old Billy’s painful tooth. Fantastic. Keep up the smart work._

And yet. 

Steve wasn’t thinking straight, that was for sure. He knew that, but he still dropped his clothes on the floor until he was standing there bare foot with only his swimming shorts on. Looking behind him, he saw that Bucky had turned his full attention on him now. He was supporting his upper body on his arms again and looked with eyes that seemed too big for him at the pile of clothes and back again at Steve. The merman probably almost had a heart attack when he saw Steve stripping off layer after layer of what he probably had thought was his very loose fitting skin.

Steve smiled when Bucky made a confused sound in the back of his throat and then turned around, jumping into the pool. Not looking behind him, Steve swam towards the middle of the pool and grabbed the slippery ball. His heart skipped a beat when he heard Bucky diving into the pool behind him and he sucked in a sharp breath.  
Very good idea indeed, to go swimming with a carnivorousmerman without backup or even something to defend yourself with. _Idiot_.

Steve quickly paddled to the nearest pool edge so he could hold onto something and yelped when the red ball in his hands was smashed away with a giant grey tail.  
He really hoped he didn’t just dirty Bucky’s pool water.

_Thankfully, however, it quickly became clear that Bucky wasn’t being aggressive. He was – being playful._

Steve watched with amazement how Bucky tried to grab the ball under water, but instead it quickly surfaced again with the merman in tow. Steve couldn’t help but laugh as he saw Bucky’s antics.

“You’ve never seen such a thing before, have you? Come on, give it here.”

Steve pushed himself away from the safe edge without really thinking and swam towards the ball. Bucky looked on for a moment before quickly diving underwater and sweeping the ball away again from Steve with his tail. 

“Hey! Not fair! You have to learn to share, too, you know!” Steve said smiling but with no bite in his words. He began to full on laugh when Bucky got hit in the chin when the ball surfaced above water with great speed. The merman simply shook his head wildly against the slight sting and sniffed the air. He suddenly seemed to remember that Steve was in the pool as well. 

He had only a few seconds to brace himself.

"Whoa whoa, c- calm do-”

It was no use, of course. Before he knew what was happening, strange hands with long sharp nails grabbed his legs and pulled him under. Steve had had barely the chance to gulp in air before he got dragged underwater and soon he was thrashing and panicking, which only resulted in him opening his mouth and letting the air escape in large bubbles.

And then, when Steve was sure he would drown, his eyes locked with those of the merman who was just a couple of inches away, and time seemed to slow down.

For just a moment Steve could see what Bucky looked like. Well, how he was really supposed to look. 

Bucky’s long hair floated softly around his head and his tail was stretched out, showing of its full length.

But the eyes. His eyes. Here, in the quiet and half darkness of the pool, they seemed to glow with a soft light in which Steve could see such depth and intelligence that his head reeled. Or was that because of-? 

Steve was only thrashing weakly now. Dark spots appeared in his vision and his eyes began to droop. He felt hands grabbing him by the arms and with incredible speed Steve got pushed above the surface. Thankfully sucking in large gasps of air, he was laid remarkable gently on the tile floor beside the pool. Staring up at the ceiling, Steve tried to calm himself down before he started hyperventilating. His heart was still trying to beat its way out of his chest and his lips trembled a little. 

Something soft nudged against his hand and Steve turned his head with wide eyes. A bright red object blocked his whole vision. 

Behind it, Steve could hear soft splashing, slowly retreating.

Steve grabbed the ball and hugged it to his chest. The last of his panic disappeared and he lay there on the floor for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes.

At last, he got up on trembling legs and looked the pool over. There he saw the dark form of a large creature moving around. After a few seconds he noticed that Bucky was simply moving from one side to the other again.

Steve slowly gathered up his clothes and was about to move out of the door when he heard splashing behind him.

Turning around, he saw the merman’s head floating above the water, looking at him. A soft sound escaped from Bucky’s throat; a melodious tune that reminded Steve of the sounds dolphins made. After that, the merman dived under again and disappeared, ready to take on his repetitive laps around the pool.

Steve slowly closed the door behind him. The ball he left behind.

 

  
After quickly dressing himself in his work outfit, Steve walked on still wobbling legs to the main hall. He had received a text message from Bruce asking him to come to his and Tony’s workplace upstairs. Steve was eager to know what they had to tell him; they must have learned at least _something_ from the scan they were able to make of Bucky before everything went horribly wrong.

Arriving at the main hall, he saw Thor chatting with his brother Loki, who looked like he was trying to do anything but acknowledge Thor’s presence. Which proved to be impossible, seeing that Thor could not simply be ignored.Loki seemed to know that too, Steve saw. 

Steve had hoped that he could quickly slip away before any of them noticed him, but he winced as he heard a booming voice call him over from across the hall. Defeated, Steve moved towards the two unlikely brothers and tried to smile politely without collapsing from the light feeling in his head. 

“Ah, Steven Rogers! We meet again! Loki was just telling me about that creature that you-“ began Thor, before being cut off by his brother;

"I was _not_. I was talking about it with Banner when you decided to eavesdrop-"

“- And that you actually saved its life! An incredible feat, Ste-“

“I save hundreds of people every single day by not driving on the sidewalk,” Loki sneered, unimpressed. “Where is my medal?”

Steve smiled sheepishly at the two of them and waved his hand a little around.

“I really have to go, guys. I wish I could chat longer, but-“

“THOR! For the hundredth time, stop touching my computer screen with those fat greasy fingers of yours!”

Thor quickly shrunk away from Loki, which Steve thought was a very wise thing to do, considering the murderous look on Loki’s face. Steve didn’t understand in the first place why Thor kept visiting his brother when their relationship clearly wasn’t very good. 

Steve quickly used Thor’s distraction to escape the hall and take the lift upstairs. He was relieved when the door closedand the AC/DC song cut off the shouting voices. He still was _not_ a fan, though.

When the doors opened, Steve walked through the hallways until he arrived at a large door that required eye recognition to open, something Tony put together. It always gave Steve a headache, but it was a very handy and safe way to secure the door.

Permission to enter granted, the door swung open automatically and Steve stepped inside the room.

Every single time he came here he was awed just as much as the first time he saw it. The room was as enormous as a football field with a ceiling as high as that of a church. The whole space was filled with long tables covered in scientific equipment. Steam coiled from several machines and a lot of liquids were being boiled on Steve’s left hand. Right in front of him were huge tanks with dead sea animals drifting in them. They were kept here for scientific purposes, but Steve couldn’t bring himself to look at them for too long. 

Shaking his head, he carefully made his way to the end of the room where he saw Tony and Bruce talking to each other and gesturing to something that was lying on the table. 

When Steve reached the two of them their voices trailed off and they stood in an awkward silence for a moment.

“Well,” said Tony at last, unable to stay quiet for more than a few seconds, “you came. Good. You look… great. Yeah, that was the word I was looking for. Definitely.”

Steve glared at him but said nothing. Tony was still skeptical about him taking care of Bucky alone, but deep down Steve knew he was just concerned. But that was the whole problem, wasn’t it? People were always so _concerned_ about him because of his asthma and other things. Everyone felt the incredible need to mother him, with the possible exception of Natasha, and he was sick of it. He was no child anymore, even though he was the same height and was basically skin and bone. People tended to forget that, no matter how many times Steve proved them wrong.

Still, the prospect of hearing more about Bucky was more important at the moment than starting a argument again. And so he ignored Tony’s remark and instead said:

“I’m fine. Only a little tired. Now, please tell me why you two wanted to speak to me in here. Did you find something about Bucky?”

Tony opened his mouth, probably to tell Steve again what a strange name Bucky was, when by a miracle Bruce was faster than him.

“Well, there is a lot to discuss. You might want to sit down, because there is more that we found out about him than just his body temperature,” Bruce said calmly with one hand putting on his glasses and the other hand grabbing a few sheets of paper. Steve sat down opposite Tony and glanced up at Bruce, who was standing next to a white board. 

“So, the merman. Bucky,” Bruce nodded towards Steve. “Before things got a bit… out of hand, we were only able to do a limited range of scans. We did however manage to get a blood sample from him and we tested it.”

Bruce looked at Tony expectantly, and the latter stood up to stand next to his husband. 

Sometimes Steve couldn’t understand how they ever fit together. Quiet; calm Bruce and hyperactive, egocentric Tony. They were definitely the most prominent example of opposites attract. But then again, they also shared their enormous talent and scientific intellect. Maybe they weren’t that different after all. If only he himself could find someone one day he could love with all his heart and be loved in return.

Tony’s voice interrupted his thoughts abruptly and Steve had to concentrate to be able to follow what the man was saying.

“As you’ve probably already figured out, that merman is no ordinary thing. Well, I mean, _duh_ , it’s a freakin’ _merman_ , but still, very extraordinary in many aspects. For one, he has all the organs we humans have in about the same sizes and in the same places. Slightly different with him is that he also has all the organs that let him breathe underwater like a fish. Again, _duh_. Anyway. Now to the real interesting part. Assuming that he normally would never come above surface, because we humans would have discovered his species that way a long time ago, he shouldn’t have lungs that are developed so well. Somehow he survived a still unspecified amount of time on that beach by breathing like a human does. Again, _assuming_ he’s never been on dry land before, he should have died within seconds. He didn’t. Which is impossible. So, this finding means that there is no other explanation than that he _is_ familiar with dry land. Which raises many questions. One: where did he come on land? Two: are there more mermaids and mermen? Okay, sorry, that question doesn’t really have anything to do with him being on dry land regularly, but I’m really wondering about that. Anyway. Three: is that old story that lonely fishermen thought they saw naked mermaids on the beach, but they turned out to be seals or something, true after all? And-"

“Okay Tony, I have to stop you there. Maybe it is better if _I_ tell everything. Just to make things a little more clear for Steve.”

Steve smiled gratefully at Bruce while his ears were still tingling from Tony’s rattling.

Bruce patted Tony on the shoulder as the latter sat down again,brooding about being denied to do the thing he loved most of all, hearing himself talk.

Bruce cleared his throat and went on,

“To summarize Tony’s story, Bucky appears to have remarkably well developed lungs which saved his life when he was stranded on the beach where you found him. It indeed raises the question where Bucky is from and where and why he goes on land. But there is more.”

Steve was almost sitting on the edge of his seat now. 

“His lungs aren’t the only part of him that is way more developed than it should be, seeing that he is a creature of the sea. His brain is also the same size as a human’s. Not very surprising perhaps, but the data we found was quite remarkable; the part of his brain that regulates social behavior is extremely active. Judging from this we can assume that he has had a lot of contact with other creatures in his life. And that means that there have to be a lot more of them. There just has to be. But how did they communicate with each other? That, we don’t know yet. Maybe they use the same signals asdolphins. We need more information to find out. We still have a lot of questions, but it will take a lot of time to answer them. And perhaps we never will.”

Steve leaned slowly back in his chair. There was something… off about all this. He just didn’t know exactly _what_.

“That is all we can really tell you now. We still need to do a lot of research, but we wanted to tell you this at least.”

Steve nodded after a second and stood up. 

“Thanks, Bruce. Tony. I appreciate it, I really do. I’ll leave you to your work then.”

As if in a trance Steve left the room and went roaming around the hallways of the center with no real destination, instead, he tried to process the information on Bucky he had just been given. Bruce and Tony didn’t exactly tell him anything shocking or unexpected, but still it confirmed a lot of things. What he should do with the information Steve didn’t know.

And then there was that weird feeling he had when he heard Bruce and Tony talking. There was something they were missing. Something _he_ was missing. 

But what?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took quite a while, but here is a new chapter! From now on, chapters will be posted more frequently. 
> 
> Comments are very much appreciated!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the lovely comments! :) You are all amazing! I almost have summer vacation now, and plenty of time to write on this story. Hope you enjoy this one! The plot begins to kick in now.

“Just remember, no matter what you do, don’t make any sudden movements. He doesn’t like that. At all.”

It was a quiet, warm afternoon and Steve was where he seemed to always be these past few months; with Bucky. This time however, he had decided that it would be good if Bucky got used to other people around him again. After the fiasco in the operation room, the merman had become a little unpredictable with his actions. Steve could easily understand that but it was for his own good that Bucky learned to trust more people than just Steve. Especially since Bucky wasn’t going elsewhere anytime soon.  
That thought didn’t really sit well with Steve.

Natasha blew her red hair out of her face beside him with an exasperated look on her face. For minutes she had been moving her hand around in the water, but Bucky still refused to meet them at the edge of the pool. Steve could see his dark shape on the bottom of the pool. It could be just his imagination, but Steve thought he could make out the merman’s eyes staring at them intensely. 

“I’ve been crouching here for fourteen minutes now, Steve. I’m pretty sure he isn’t coming. He doesn’t trust me, even with you sitting next to me,” Natasha pointed out as she sat back on her heels and withdrew her hand out of the salty water.

Steve bit his lip and scratched at his hair while trying to think of a way to make Bucky come out of the water. He couldn’t lure him with food, because Bucky only ate live fish after which he caught them himself. A toy wasn’t going to trick him either. Them going towards him was simply a bad idea. You should never crowd a being when they didn’t want to; whether they were animals or humans. But maybe…

“How about you go all the way back to the wall and I let him come to me? Maybe then, step for step, you can go to him. What do you think?” If this wouldn’t work, then maybe it was still too early for Bucky to get familiar with other humans besides Steve. 

Natasha simply lifted her shoulders and got up on her feet. Her security uniform was as spotless as ever; even from crouching down all this time there weren’t any wrinkles in it. A total opposite of how Steve usually looked like. 

“Fine. You’re the expert. But I swear, if he begins to snarl I’m out of here. I can handle guys that look like walking wardrobes and have brains the size of a walnut, but he and his teeth? No thanks.”

She glanced a last time at the pool before retreating to the back, where she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. Alert as always. 

Steve almost got a heart attack when hands with sharp nails suddenly grabbed his arm and he almost fell into the water. He vaguely heard Natasha take in a sharp breath, but Steve soon calmed down. He had gotten used with – well, whatever this was. 

“Wow, Bucky, calm down! I’m glad to see you too, but I would love to not almost drown today, if that is okay with you. I still can’t breathe water like you do, you know.”

Laughing, Steve freed himself and held Bucky’s hands for a moment. The merman was looking at him with wide bright eyes that Steve had come to recognize as a sort of smile. Bucky still wasn’t used to the whole concept of eye contact, but lately Steve had managed to direct the merman’s wandering eyes to his own. That above anything else really made Steve feel like they were making actual human contact. No matter what the others said, Bucky was definitely as human as the rest of them. He only didn’t know how to act like one.

“How has your day been? Do you like your ball?”

Bucky didn’t show any sign that he had understood what Steve just said. Instead, he wriggled his clawed hands free from Steve´s grasp and pulled himself out of the pool until he lay on the tiled floor. His gaze was fixed at Natasha on the other side of the room. He was squinting his eyes a little, as if he couldn´t really focus his eyesight on something so far away. 

Natasha, who was the most badass person Steve knew, began to look a little uncomfortable. Unconsciously, her hand slid to the pistol holster on her hip.

“Nat, ” Steve said quickly and Natasha quickly shoved her hand away with a slightly guilty expression on her face. “It is okay. I think he just has trouble seeing things in the distant. Come forward as slowly as you can.”

Steve grabbed Bucky’s shoulder when he saw him tense up as Natasha slowly made her way towards them. The merman instantly relaxed a little, but was still trying to get the moving thing in front of him in focus. When Natasha was only a few meters away, Bucky stopped squinting and blinked his eyes a few times. He still looked wary, but he was not as nervous as he was before. 

At last, Natasha sank to one knee in front of Bucky and tried to smile at him. 

“Hey, big guy. No need for us to be enemies, right?”

Bucky seemed to process what she was saying for a moment. Or, more likely, the sound of her voice. Then, suddenly, he leaned forwards and began to retch. 

Steve, in a panic, patted Bucky frantically on his back, trying to help him get out what seemed to be stuck in his throat. Natasha got up just in time to avoid getting her trousers dirty with what looked like to be – 

“A fish grate?” Steve blinked perplexed as he looked over Bucky’s shoulder to see what the merman had thrown up. Bucky himself seemed to be as fine as ever and slammed his large tail a few times on the water behind him. 

“…Okay,” Natasha said slowly after a few stunned seconds with her hand over her heart. “That either means he hates me with a passion or he wanted to give me a… rather interesting gift.”

“I… think that it’s his way of making friends with you?” Steve said hopefully. “You should pick it up.”

Natasha wrinkled her nose but then sighed. “All right then. But if he bites me in the face, you can pay for the plastic surgery.”

She stepped closer again and carefully picked up the grate between two fingers. “Thanks, big guy,” she said bemusedly as she placed it in her bag that she had slung over her shoulder. 

Bucky splashed his tail in the water again before he began to drag himself away from them over the slippery floor. 

Steve and Natasha looked on as he pulled himself towards the closest wall. Bucky looked up all the way to the top, where a few large windows led in bright sunlight. They were too high for him to look outside, and that seemed to frustrate him immensely. Steve could see it in the way he tried to dig his nails in the hard floor and the distressed sounds he made. 

It wasn’t the first time Steve saw Bucky do this. Combined with him constantly swimming back and forth in the pool, it was clear that the merman was severely stressed. Usually he stopped doing this behavior when Steve visited him, but as soon as Steve left he could see Bucky falling back into his patterns again through the window in the side room. 

“What is he doing?” Natasha said quietly as Bucky turned his head and looked back at them.

Steve sighed and put his head in his hand. He had a pretty good idea what Bucky was doing.

“He’s trying to make clear to us he wants to go outside. Maybe he gave you that grate because he thinks it would’ve made you so happy that you would help him out. Or maybe he thinks you owe him one now. Anyway, he’s never done this when I was with him.”

“I don’t blame him.” Natasha hadn’t looked away from Bucky since he moved away from them. “He doesn’t belong here, Steve. Just look at him. We’ve taken his freedom away from him. He can’t leave – but he doesn’t understand why.”

Steve closed his eyes tightly. It broke his heart to hear the same thoughts he had had for the past few weeks reflected back to him. Of course this wasn’t right. Bucky couldn’t be held here for long, just as the rest of the animals here in the center couldn’t be held here for too long. Bucky’s wounds were healed now. The bandages had come off and there were now only a few thin scars left. Steve had thought that Tony and Bruce would’ve long finished their research by now. They were the best in what they did, after all.  
But in these past few weeks, almost all the animals that were here when Bucky was brought in were released back into the ocean. The merman was already one of the longest residents of the Sea life center by now. 

“Yeah, I will talk with Tony and Bruce about this. Every time they say they just need a little more time, but I’m not buying that anymore.”

Steve had grown very attached to Bucky, but he knew that the merman wouldn’t be here forever. It would be the most selfish thing to keep Bucky locked up here in a pool without direct sunlight only because Steve would miss him too bad otherwise. 

“Perhaps a change of scenery will cheer him up a little,” Natasha suggested as she finally tore her eyes away from Bucky, who was making his way back into the pool again with a sad look on his face when he realized they weren’t doing anything. Steve’s heart lurched and he wanted nothing more than to hold him close and tell him everything was going to be all right. But the merman had already dove into the pool again without even a glance in their direction. 

Then, the meaning of Natasha’s words finally came under his attention. It was a good idea; maybe that would help a little. At least until they were ready to release him into the ocean again. 

“Natasha, you’re brilliant! I can’t believe I hadn’t thought about that yet. I will ask Tony and Bruce immediately! Are you coming with me?” Steve jumped to his feet and made his way to the door. Saying bye to Bucky would be of no use now. Besides, he had a strong feeling that the merman wanted to be left alone now.

Natasha shook her head and followed him into the hallway. She waited for him as he locked the door, and said; 

“I have to go back to the video room. I can’t trust Clint to be alone for more than an hour. He’s like a giant five year old sometimes, I swear.”

Steve smiled at that and they walked together back to the main hall. They stopped dead in their tracks however when they arrived there and took in the situation.

Loki had left his spot behind his desk and was now standing tall and threatening before a man who looked very out of place in his army colored clothing. There were more men standing behind him. When Steve looked to his right, he saw Bruce peeking out of the door to the meeting room with behind him Tony, who tried frantically to see what was going on outside. He was held back by his husband however, and he finally relented with his hands thrown up frustratingly. 

Loki and the man were arguing about something, and Steve moved unconsciously closer to figure out what they were talking about, ignoring the quiet warning from Natasha behind him and shaking of her hand on his arm. 

“- care that you are here with a signed order from the president of Russia. This is the United States of America, and even if you had a signed order from our president, you still don’t have to right to just-”

“Oh, but I have,” the man said in a pleasant, but overly calm voice. “I have all the right. You see, something of ours is missing and we wish to retrieve it. We’ve been to several centers before this one, and we have only this one simple request to look through this building. That is all. If we find nothing, then we’ll leave and will not bother you again. I don’t understand what-“

“You don’t have to understand, mister Rumlow. You need an invitation from us for you to be able to look through our building. This center has special rights assigned by our government. I strongly suggest you leave now and go looking into that.”

Steve had never seen Loki so frightening before as right now. He had thought that the sneers and eye rolls towards him and the other people who worked here were bad, but this- if this was what Loki could truly be like, Steve didn’t want to get on his bad side anytime soon. Yet, he was also glad; Loki didn’t just shrink away from this guy – this Rumlow – as he himself maybe would’ve had. He precisely had told Rumlow how this center worked, and-

“Wait,” a voice suddenly called out on the left. Steve saw Bruce finally coming out of the meeting room with Tony closely following. They both looked very tired, but determined.

“That will be all, Loki. Go back to your work.”

Loki turned his seething look towards the two of them, but finally turned back to his desk after a last burning look at Rumlow. He saw Steve and Natasha standing in the hallway besides the desk, but was still so angry to pay them any mind. 

Rumlow smiled slightly as he stuck out his hand towards Bruce. 

“Brock Rumlow, a pleasure to meet you. I apologize for the scene my men and I have created here.”

Bruce and Tony shook his hand tentatively as Loki loudly grinded his teeth. He was violently pressing the keys on his keyboard, but Steve was so focused on the strange meeting before him that he didn’t really hear it. A nervous feeling was settling in his stomach.

“That’s all right,” Bruce said in a calm voice that clearly showed that it, in fact, was not all right. “Please tell us the exact reason of your visit and perhaps we will be able to solve this situation in a civil way.”

“Very well,” Rumlow smiled in that awfully pleasant voice again. “I am looking for something. You might laugh at me in my face when I tell what it is exactly I’m looking for. But maybe not.”

Steve’s stomach sank. Natasha grabbed his arm again, but this time it wasn’t to keep him from moving forward. She began to understand as well. 

“What is it, then?” Steve didn’t know how Bruce could sound and look so calm right now. Tony, standing beside Bruce, somehow managed to keep his face in a neutral expression as well. Steve felt on his arm and then grabbed Natasha’s hand. She squeezed back.  
“Well,” Rumlow began smiling broadly now, “the top half is man and the bottom half is fish. He escaped from our facilities and we very much want him back.”


	9. Chapter 9

“So…” Sam said slowly after he placed two bowls with ice cream in front of them on the table. “That thingy you saved on the beach that day, which you still haven’t talked to me about, is being sought by the Russians?”

Steve nodded quietly and prodded at his ice cream with his spoon. Normally his bowl would’ve been half empty already, but he had pretty much lost his appetite for anything.

He and Sam were sitting on the couch in their shared apartment like they always did after eating dinner. Sam had bought a big bucket of ice cream when he heard how upset Steve was on the phone, and he showed up at the center within fifteen seconds, even though he had to leave his mysterious work way too early for that. 

Steve felt another wave of anxiety roll over him when he thought about Rumlow and his cold smile again. He had wanted to take Bucky from them and Steve didn’t know what he would’ve done if he had succeeded. 

But luckily he had underestimated the power of reason and calm that was Bruce Banner.

“What could it possibly be though that they want it so bad? Did it swallow a batch of expensive diamonds or something?”

Steve stomped Sam’s arm, which almost made him spill his ice cream on the couch. “Don’t joke about this! They wanted to hurt him, I know it! Why else would he have escaped from them with such big wounds?”

Sam didn’t seem to have even registered any pain from his hit and instead glanced slightly apologetically at Steve. 

“Hey, I’m sorry man, but I can’t help you if you keep keeping secret what this is all about.”

“What, like me still not knowing whether you’re in the criminal circuit or some kind of spy?” Steve bit back with not as much fire as he had hoped to. Instead, he just slumped miserably further down the couch and put his bowl away before spilling it. 

He almost didn’t want to come home tonight, but Bruce and Tony insisted. They were rather persuasive by saying that no one would get past both Tony’s very advanced security system and the watchful eyes of both Natasha and Clint, who would take the night shift tonight. Still, Steve remembered that dangerous glint in Rumlow’s eyes when he said that they would be back soon with the right papers this time. It really made Steve nervous. He must know. He must know that they would only be so difficult if they had something to hide. If they had him to hide.

“Hey,” said Sam softly behind him and placed a big hand on top of Steve’s head. Steve closed his eyes and had to control himself to not burst into tears. He was just under so much stress lately. Bucky has been the only main thing on his mind for weeks now. Steve constantly worried about him: Had he enough to eat? Was he comfortable? Does he feel alone scared when it’s dark in the pool room with only a small light at the door and no one to accompany him? Doe she miss his family, his own kind? Or was he the only one in the whole world?

“You’re doing the thing again, Stevie. I can practically hear the rusty cogwheels turning inside your little used mind.”

Steve snorted beside himself and smiled. “You’re an asshole.”

“Yep,” said Sam way too happily. “That’s what I do. But seriously though; if you don’t want to tell me – or can’t tell me what’s precisely going on, then so be it. I just want to make clear that I’m here when you need me, okay? Whatever happens you can always call me and wake me up for it. Especially if Russians are involved in all this. Promise?”

Great. Now Steve had to work double hard to keep the water from spilling from his eyes like a baby.

“Yeah,” he said and quickly cleared his throat. “Promise.”

________________________ 

The next day Steve arrived at the center so early that Loki was just beginning to settle in behind his desk in the reception hall. Loki’s green eyes shot up suspiciously when he heard Steve come inside, but as soon as he saw it was him he looked away pointedly and pretended he was typing something very important on his computer. Steve didn’t really mind being ignored by Loki anymore. He felt like that, after yesterday especially, Loki was on their side, no matter how grumpy and downright mean he was sometimes. It was just something in his nature, Steve figured. And to be honest, with a overly enthusiastic brother like Thor, Steve would go crazy too eventually. 

When Steve opened the door to the pool room, with his huge backpack in tow, he expected everything but this. Bucky in the pool, Bucky gone… But instead here he was, almost right in front of the door, as if he was waiting for him for a very long time.

Steve jumped out of his surprised daze as a sudden raspy, but happy sounding noise echoed through the room. Bucky dragged himself over the slippery floor towards him and Steve knelt down. After a moment of hesitation, he reached out to brush his thick, mane like hair out of Bucky’s face. Steve’s heart leaped as Bucky looked him straight in the eye for a few seconds before burying his face in Steve’s shirt, as if embarrassed with something. Steve was grinning so broadly that it almost hurt. He hadn’t seen Bucky so lively and happy in a very long time. And most importantly: he was still here, where he belonged.

No, a accusing voice said softly in the back of his mind, he belongs to nothing and no one but the ocean. 

Steve shook the thought away. “Hey, Buck. How are you doing today? You’ve been waiting for me? Are you hungry?”

Bucky ignored all of his questions as always and instead bared his sharp teeth in something that looked suspiciously like an actual human smile. Then, Bucky pushed himself away from Steve and focused his attention on his backpack instead. The Merman raised a clawed hand, but Steve pulled the backpack away before he could set his nails into it. 

“No no, you’ve already ruined enough stuff of mine. Do you realize how much these things costs?” he said laughingly as he quickly crossed the room with Bucky following as quickly as he could. He would definitely outrace Steve in the water, but on land the tables were turned. 

Steve zipped the back pack open and took something out of it. Bucky soon realized that he hadn’t brought anything with him that smelled good, and he distanced himself a little. Steve looked at him from the corner of his eye and saw Bucky looking around the room with sharp alertness in his eyes. He sniffed the air a few times and grumbled deep in his throat. Just when Steve turned around fully to him to see what was wrong, Bucky relaxed again and blinked up at him. 

Steve choose to ignore Bucky’s brief strange behavior and sat down next to him on the floor. He waited until he had Bucky’s full attention, and then showed him what he was holding in his hand.

“See this? It’s a book. It is full of little drawings that I made.”

Steve opened the book on the first page and showed him. The first page showed a few sketches he made of fish. Since the moment he had found Bucky, he had dedicated a whole sketchbook to everything that had to do with Bucky or the ocean with the intention of showing them one day to Bucky. He was quite reluctant after a few weeks to show them when it became clear how homesick Bucky was and that he would have to stay longer than planned at the center. It could trigger Bucky into being more miserable then he already was, and before you knew it he could do something… bad to himself. It wasn’t uncommon, sadly. 

But today was different. After coming so close to losing Bucky to the hands of those cruel looking men, it became all the more clear that Bucky couldn’t stay here anymore. Sooner or later they would come back and they would be powerless. Until Bruce and Tony had figured out a way to hide Bucky from Rumlow and his men, Steve wanted to spend as much time as possible with Bucky. He had really grown attached to him. Maybe a little too attached. 

“Do you recognize them? These are the ones you eat every day.”

Bucky brought his hand down forcefully on the book so that it fell out of Steve’s hands. For a split second Steve was afraid he would rip the pages to bits, thinking that the fish were real, but Bucky didn’t do that. 

Instead, he looked intently down at the fish with his nose only a centimeter above the pages. He looked carefully at each fish and then blinked a few times. Steve startled when Bucky wiped at the corner of the page long enough until it flipped and he could look at other drawings. He skipped a few pages by doing that, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was now looking at various tails and moved his fingers over one of them. His own.

Steve brought a slightly trembling hand to his mouth as he watched Bucky almost businesslike looking at his drawings, making a few noises now and then when he came across a particular one that he liked or recognized to be part of him. He looked so human doing that. How – How could he have known what to do so quickly? And there was something in Bucky’s eyes now – something he had only seen a few times before. 

“Bucky?” 

The Merman glanced up for a moment at him and Steve gasped as he saw how normal Bucky looked right now. Except for his wild hair, his claws and his tail, he could’ve been just an ordinary man. 

“Look at the windows,” Steve suddenly said on a whim and immediately hit himself mentally for saying something so dumb. 

Bucky narrowed his eyes a little and he seemed to think for a second. Then, he looked slowly around him through the room. He glanced back at Steve and narrowed his eyes even more. 

“Where are the windows?” Steve said again slowly. Something was happening. But-

Steve actually had to reach in his pocket to use his aspirator for the first times in days when Bucky turned his head uncertainly up to look at the windows above them. Bucky jumped when he heard the strange sound of the aspirator being triggered. Steve could finally breathe fully again and had prevented himself from hyperventilating.

“No,” he managed to say at last as he looked at Bucky with big eyes. “How- For how long- But-”

Bucky looked at him confusingly for a second before losing interest and looking at the book again. He turned another page and looked straight into his own drawn face. Bucky’s eyes widened visibly and he made a small sound.

Steve meanwhile had pulled himself up to his feet and found himself looking down at Bucky for more than a minute. The Merman pointedly ignored him in favor of looking at his own portrait and he looked so confused and fascinated at the same time that Steve wanted to cry. 

“Bucky,” he said again and snapped his fingers. Bucky looked up immediately and sniffed the air before focusing on Steve again. “I’m… I’m leaving for a moment, okay? I’ll come back?”

Steve was hoping for a different reaction than the other times he had said this to Bucky, but he was disappointed when that didn’t happen. The moment was over and Bucky didn’t react in a strange or understanding way anymore. He was too fed up with what he was seeing in the sketch book. 

Steve left the room quietly.

___________________________ 

“You were just imagining it,” Tony said slowly to Steve as he drank the last bit from his cup of coffee in the canteen of the center. “After yesterday I would see ghosts too. God, I haven’t come across such a dick since Loki.”

Steve swallowed back what he wanted to say about Bucky and instead thought about Rumlow again. 

“What will be done against that guy? I mean, when he comes back he will find Bucky for sure. Do we need to transport him to somewhere else? Do you have a secret pool anywhere? Or-” Steve took a deep breath, “release him back into the ocean again?”

Bruce spoke up for the first time since they had sat down at the table. He looked more tired than ever and Steve knew that he had been working through the night again. 

“Perhaps he didn’t come from the ocean,” he said thoughtfully as he finally dropped the spoon with which he was stirring his now cold coffee. “At least he wasn’t very used to it. If Mr. Rumlow is to be believed, Bucky came from their facilities. It is an possibility that he was captured and imprisoned at a very young age, and doesn’t know how to live in the ocean anymore. Those wounds on his body when he was found on the beach were not made by humans, at least. He could have been grabbed by a whale. I don’t know. We haven’t really studied his wounds that well since we were too distracted by having an actual Merman in our center.”

Steve and Tony looked silently at Bruce as he pushed his cold coffee away from him and stared off into space without really seeing anything. 

“What you just told us, Steve, about Bucky – it could very well be possible that he is capable to understand to a certain degree what we are saying. If that is the case, he must’ve been with Rumlow for quite a long time. Or…” Bruce trailed off and frowned slightly.

Steve leaned forward. “Or what? Bruce? Are you-”

“No,” Bruce said suddenly and clearly seemed to be push the thing he was thinking about away. “No, never mind. That’s- No. Tony and I have to go back to work now.” Bruce stood up from his chair with more quickly than usual and Tony followed his example frowningly and just as clueless as Steve. 

“But what about Bucky? Where will we go with him?” Steve quickly asked before they disappeared in the crowd of people who had had breakfast in the canteen as well. Steve briefly saw Coulson in his usual suit talking avidly with Thor, who again seemed to have nothing else to do than hang around the center, even though he didn’t actually work here. 

“We will think about it,” Bruce said and laid a reassuring hand on Steve’s shoulder. “I promise, we will find a solution. They will not take him from us that easily.”

Steve wished he could believe him. If anything, his words only troubled him even more. 

As everyone noisily streamed out of the doors, Steve was left alone at his table. He took a last sip of tea before standing up himself. Not really understanding why, he walked over to the broad windows and looked outside. In the distance he saw traffic passing by on a big road. He could see a part of the beach on his right, with laughing people playing beach volleyball and eating ice cream. Maybe he should go out and search for rare shells again, he thought vaguely to himself. 

Then he looked down at the parking lot and the breath caught in his throat. A big, ordinary van was parked close by the center. In the passenger seat he could see a familiar looking man with dark hair. He had a binoculars in front of his eyes directly pointed at Steve. 

The man waved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all the lovely people for commenting! You guys are amazing. Especially Étude for reading this story at 5AM, a time at which I wouldn't even be able to function properly! :P Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!


End file.
